The Nonborn King (18 page)

The false Shining One had duped her later and got the Spear away; but the Flood fixed him. Now the Spear was hers again forever.

She lay the trophy gently on its bed of gold and left the treasure-cave for her own couch of dry grass- The middle of the night brought cold air from the mountain summit, and she had the nightmare again. But toward dawn, when the lynx curled up at her feet to keep warm, Felice slept in peace.

Kuhal Earthshaker lay insensible throughout most of that day, crushed by bereavement and Felice's desecration. When he finally awoke, evening had come, and with it small things seeking his brother's body. Cursing, he drove them away, and then set about washing and preparing. There were no fresh clothes; but around Fian's neck he hung the heavy Janus-face medallion of their joint escutcheon, the only ornament that they still retained.

He carried Fian to the shore, then brought down the coracle. Setting his brother adrift, he knelt on the salt-crusted rocks and tried to sing the Song. But without Fian, there would never be music again, so he merely recited the words. Once again, out over the water, he seemed to see a glowing city in the haze. Fian in his skin boat followed the light-path that led to it, going home.

After a long time Kuhal summoned up his last reserve of strength. His farspeaking voice shouted: Wail for me Brother!

And a disembodied answer came;

... So there you are!

The reverie of grief vanished and Kuhal again knew terror. He stood paralyzed, staring at the luminosity out over the sea. It was no pearly mirage this time but a harsh glare, kryptondischarge green, rapidly growing in intensity. A farspoken voice emanating from the light spewed obscenities about the aether and addressed Kuhal on the intimate mode:

Why the bloodyhell you been hiding in frogfucking basalt ravine instead of staying in open where I could track you down? We heard your Fiandeathshout allway over in Afaliah!

A Tanu knight all armed in glowing aquamarine and riding an enormous chaliko materialized out of the mist and floated down to earth.

"Celo? Is it you?" Kuhal's physical voice was a cracked whisper.

"Of course it's me, you poor stupid shithead. Who else? I'm the only levitant left with the power to carry another, short of that little gold rapscallion or Tonn the Turncoat. And small chance they'd come and save your ass!"

"I thought,.. Fian and I thought that we were alone. The only ones left."

The fierce old face with its silver brows glowered. Celadeyr of Afaliah sent an inexpert redactive probe into the younger man's deranged mind. "Great Goddess, what an idea! But I don't wonder you thought so. considering the state you're in. We've managed to rescue other survivors, but all from Aven or the European shore. How in Tana's Name did you ever get yourself marooned in Africa?"

But Kuhal did not reply. He had fainted.

The old hero of Afaliah gave vent to his pity in more curses. He spotted the coracle far out on the water and used his creative power lo englobe it in a pyre of astral flame. When he had sung the Song for the dead twin, he loaded the living one behind him on the chaliko's broad back and launched them into the air,

12

ELIZABETH RELAXED HER CONCENTRATION AND SMILED. "I'M glad he was finally rescued. Poor man. Imagine him thinking he and his brother were the last Tanu alive."

Creyn could not help the thought: I remember Another who also despaired at being alone.

"I learned how wrong I was." (The deep doubt persisting was far beneath Creyn's perception.)

The Tanu healer reached across the table with his long arm and poured more coffee for both of them. Thunder grumbled around the heights of the Montagne Noire. Rain started again, spraying the small leaded window panes on the eastern side of the chalet until it was impossible to see outside.

"Aside from Culluket," Creyn observed, "Kuhal Earth-shaker is the only High Table survivor of the Host of Nontusvel. The other fifteen members of the Host who escaped the Flood are minor talents."

"I presume that Celadeyr will put Kuha! into the Skin and try to cure him so that he can be enlisted into the disloyal opposition. After all, the Second Lord Psychokinetic would be quite an ally if his powers were restored. What are the odds for full recovery?"

"Not high. The Skin depends not only upon the skill of the practitioner but also upon the patient's own willpower. And Kuhal has lost half his mind. Celo's healer is Boduragol. a competent enough operator, but I doubt whether even Dionket himself could restore Kuhal completely Even under the most favorable prognosis, he'll be laid up for the better part of a year."

"His power of teiepathic projection was almost nil," Elizabeth said "I had no idea the twins were there in Africa until Kuhal gave that temble cry last night "

There was a simultaneous flash and explosion as lightning struck Black Crag Lodge for the fourth time that stormy evening The electrical charge drained harmlessly away

"With all these atmospherics," Creyn remarked, "I wonder that you're able to farsense to Africa at all I find that my own mental vision is completely blocked beyond Amalizan But then, I am not a Grand Master "

She smiled at him, setting down her cup "No But it's time I began teaching you some of the specialized techniques of higher farsensing The static filter is well within your competence, given practice " She demonstrated the program and worked with him, strengthening and correcting, while his widefield farsight strained to penetrate the lomzation of the storm

Finally, she told him Enough.

He sank back into his chair, his ageless seraph's face bathed in perspiration "Yes I see " The mind-tone was rueful "I also see that I have a depressing amount to leam before I can be of much assistance to you in your surveillance "

"Have some more coffee," she suggested "It helps We're lucky that the bush thrives here in the Pliocene' But senously, you can be a real help to me, even now I'm still not as strong as I was back in the Milieu I must use a disproportionate amount of effort just to maintain the focus at great distances You can be an extra set of mental eyes if you link up with me during observation, seeing details I might miss "

"I understand " For a moment his mmd was silent, private "Will my helping you increase your chance of locating Felice''"

Elizabeth's brow tensed The image of the Raven Girl was ominously clear in both their minds "Creyn, I don't know what we're going to do about her She presents the most appalling danger' No metapsychic of the Galactic Milieu possessed such creative and psychokmetic powers As far as I know, there has never been such potential for physical destruction concentrated in a single individual before "

"Not even in your patron saints? Or their adversaries in the Metapsychic Rebellion?"

"No single operant of our Milieu could have done what Felice did " Rain beat upon the black windows "Especially that last psychocreative stroke that opened Gibraltar I never had an opportunity to examine Felice's mind after she attained operancy But if we could locate her, and if I could do a deepredact, it's just barely possible that the danger from her could be neutralized " Even though the operation might be fatal to both of us

Creyn's mind cned out You must not sacrifice yourself That is not your destiny' You are to be our guide 0 Brede Revenant'

"Don't call me that'" she cned, her mind shrinking away "I don't know my destiny and neither did Brede, damn her'" The old bitterness glared from Elizabeth's subliminal levels "The Shipspouse was very confident in her self-nghleousness but perhaps her transporting you here to Earth was a great objective evil Ii seems obvious to me now that you Tanu and Firvulag will survive here on Earth long enough to affect human development in some manner But my race might have been better off if the lot of you had snuffed each other out a thousand years ago back in the Duat Galaxy'"

"Brede's prescience foresaw a greater good for both races," Creyn said

"After how much suffering? For how many millions of years?" Elizabeth's voice broke She had erected a featureless curtain hiding her emotions, but Creyn. as an expenenced redactor, perceived the pndeful truth.

He said, "If Brede's meddling with the destiny of our races was presumptuous, evil, then surely the manifest results show that her action was a fortunate sin What your philosophy would call a felix culpa "

Elizabeth's laugh was brittle "You're getting to know humanity quite well, aren t you? Even to playing our little casuistical games "

"I only know," he said simply, "that the motivation ofBrede and her Ship was noble and unselfish As was her guidance of us until the end "

"We all know she meant well Even when she dragooned me A lot of autarchs have been convinced that they knew what was best for their subjects The human rebels in the Milieu had that sense of conviction Very top-lofty they were' You see, they knew for a fact that human minds have the greatest metapsychtc potential among the races of our galaxy Therefore, it was logical to them that humanity must play the dominant role in the galactic civilization Immediately The Milieu was far too important to be left to the guidance of inferior mentalities But the Milieu could not be force-fed into accelerated mental evolution, any more than children could be matured to superadulthood by Ihe insane techniques that the rebels advocated To force maturation is not only evil but ultimately futile, whether we speak of the advancement of a single child or the perfection of a galactic Mind "

She showed the Tanu healer a brief glimpse of the havoc engendered by Marc Remillard and his cabal, and the price paid to restore mental equilibrium "And this is why I am afraid "

"You see an analogy," he said, "between the Metapsychic Rebellion and Brede's manipulation of Tanu and Firvulag destiny You fear that if you take Brede's place, you may abet her sin "

Elizabeth sighed "If that's what it is. Back in the Milieu, the Concilium had billions of minds to provide a consensus. The Mind knew it was right, and the rebels were wrong But what do I know?"

The wind rising outside the chalet made a noise like coursing beardogs on a demonic Hunt. A gust came down the chimney, scattering baisam-scented smoke from the fireplace, and it was Creyn who had to block the swirling ashes, since Elizabeth seemed helpless to deflect them and even welcomed the stinging tears that they evoked. After the distraction, when she had wiped her eyes, the two of them settled down to the senous business of the night.

It was by far Ihe most favorable time for farsearching, when the sun, a much greater obstacle to uitrasensitivity than any storm, was blocked by the mass of the planet At night a mind could roam more freely, delve more readily into secret places, hsten to the remotest whispers, speak most persuasively to the reluctant mind's ear Even in premetapsychic days this was common folk knowledge Night was when the sorcerers did their work, when unseelie beings prowled and danced, and when mortal men most fitly let their consciousness rest along with their bodies, breaking free of the day's pain and tedium in dreams.

As Elizabeth's mind linked to that of Creyn, the room around them seemed to dissolve, leaving them suspended above the tempest-washed massif of the Montagne Noire Concentrating all volitional force into her farsensmg faculty, towing him along with her as easily as a kite, she ranged afar.

Observe and learn.

See below us, huddled against Black Crag, small islets of life-aura marking the mining settlements Concentrate this ultrafaculty and zoom in to view individual people, one by one or in small groups Use this power to hear ordinary speech or the declamatory or conversational modes of telepathy (It is virtually impossible, even for a Grand Master, to probe the deep thought levels at distance It is also difficult or impossible to farsense a person who has erected a superior thoughlshield There are certain artificial screening devices, for example, Brede's "room without doors" projector, that similarly block farsight)

Now observe how we search for a known mind We have stored its signature, so our coarse searching faculty can range swiftly afar, ignoring all the other auras, until we home in on the soughl-for personality And there he is'

It is Chief Burke, asleep with the other members of his party in acampjustoffthe Great South Road, some thirty kilometers below Roniah. (Blessings on you, loved brothers and sisters. Rest safely and well.)

And now, Creyn. it is your turn to work. Join me and strengthen me as we attempt a much more difficult search, pinpointing a known mind that is certain to be half-screened and wary. We will do this so insmuatively that he will not detect us. We will make no attempt to eavesdrop upon his words or thoughts.

Range northeast, for he is most likely in residence at his capital of High Vrazel in the Vosges Mountains. See SharnMes, the new young monarch of the Firvulag, who has impudently styled himself High King of the Many-Colored Land.

Behold the doughty general at home... His six children roast chestnuts at the fire and use a hot poker to mull another mug of cider for their hard-working daddy. The fierce genera) wields a sharp obsidian blade, mutters a blood-chilling oath. We are sure of this, even though we can't hear him, from the disapproving expression on the face of his wife. Queen Ayfa, leader of the Warrior Ogresses. Again Sharn's black-glass knife flashes. Chips of wood fly. The axle slips sweetly into its socket and the children cheer. Sharn sets the completed wooden chaliko onto the living-room tiles and the children crowd around the wheeled beast, each one eager to be the first to break tradition by nding the novel toy. Tradition is a frangible and sometime thing in High Vrazel these days ...

And now let us attempt the most difficult search of all:

Felice.

Consider her signature. Consider potential modes of screening- Untrained in metapsychics, her concealment mechanisms would be primitive; but the great creative potential resident in the madwoman makes refinement of technique unimportant. We will not likely succeed in our search. Nevertheless, we will try. On each and every pervigUium we will tryRange south. South beyond Amalizan, beyond Tarasiah. Curve westerly, afar. Beyond Aluteyn Craftsmaster's new establishment on the River Iberia. Beyond the frowning turrets of Afaliah where the grim old creator-coercer lurks behind strong stone ramparts, brooding over the broken-minded one who now sleeps dreamlessly in Skin